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EFCATS, the European Federation of Catalysis Societies, has announced that they are awarding the 2017 EFCATS François Gault Lectureship to Krijn de Jong, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis. The Award will be presented at Europacat XIII in Florence in August. This Award recognizes individual groundbreaking contributions to catalysis.

Krijn de Jong is being specifically recognized for his original approach to establish synthesis-structure-performance relationships in the field of heterogeneous catalysis. Synthesis of supported metal catalysts has been pursued by unraveling the scientific principles to control both metal particle size and metal particle distribution over model supports and industrially relevant supports. Structure has been studied amongst others by pioneering electron tomography and most recently liquid-phase Transmission Electron Microscopy for imaging the genesis of porous materials and supported catalysts. Performance studies have focused on conversion of synthesis gas to fuels and chemicals and bifunctional catalysis of hydroconversion of alkanes. Nanoscale effects revealed by De Jong and co-workers involve amongst others (i) metal particle size and metal particle distribution effects on activity, selectivity and stability in synthesis gas conversion and (ii) metal-acid intimacy control and impact in bifunctional catalysis of hydrocarbons.

De Jong responds from a conference in the US: “I rejoice and feel very honored for this recognition and appreciation of my research in catalysis over so many years. Also I consider it to be a great stimulus for research in the area of catalyst synthesis. I am very grateful for all the people - colleagues, staff, PhD candidates and Post Doctoral fellows - that I have worked with; without these people this research would not have been possible- a great thank you to them! Finally I express my appreciation for Utrecht University which provides a great and stimulating environment for teaching and research.”

The François Gault Lectureship Award is given every two years to a distinguished scientist in the field of heterogeneous catalysis. De Jong will present several plenary lectures across Europe between the two biennial EUROPACAT meetings held in Florence in August 2017 and in Aachen in September 2019.

De Jong studied Chemistry and Technical Chemistry at the Utrecht University and the University of Twente and obtained his PhD degree in catalysis. He subsequently worked as a researcher at Shell Research for 15 years. He has been Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis at Utrecht University since 1997. He is also the Scientific Director of the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials and a member of BP's Technology Advisory Council.

For his work, the Utrecht scientist has received numerous national and international awards, including the NWO TOP Research Grant in 2008 and the Award for Excellence in Natural Gas Conversion in 2013. Also in 2013, he received an ERC Advanced Grant of 2.5 million Euros for research into nanoparticles and catalysis. In 2015, De Jong was invited to join the Academia Europaea.